Sorry if you were expecting more... details... but this story is PG-13, not R. :D
For a long while afterward, Adrian lay on top of Natalie, insensible, listening to his own raspy breathing in concert with hers. He knew, intellectually, that he should move — he was probably crushing her — but he couldn't seem to make his limbs follow the commands of his brain.
He felt his heart hammering against hers, felt her soft breasts against the bare skin of his chest, smelled the soft perfume on her neck, and he wished he could lay there forever, just feeling her against him.
At length, he spoke. "I was right," he murmured, his voice muffled by the comforter. "You are trying to kill me."
She laughed weakly, knowing exactly how he felt. "But what a way to go."
"Oh yeah." He summoned the energy prop himself up on his elbows, taking some of his weight off of her. Her eyes were open, but vague and unfocused. "You okay?" he asked, feeling a surge of protectiveness and love.
She smiled dreamily. In the last six weeks or so, she'd occasionally – okay, frequently – fantasized about what it would be like when they finally made love, but the actual experience had completely surpassed her expectations. "I'm wonderful."
"Yes, you are," he agreed as he lowered his mouth to hers.
They shared a long, lingering kiss, after which he rested his forehead against hers. He, too, hadn't been quite prepared for the intensity of their passion, nor had he expected how completely, gloriously satiated he'd feel afterwards. "I think I'd forgotten just how incredible that felt," he confessed.
"Me too," she sighed. "It's been a long time."
"Twelve years," he said, echoing her sigh. "Give or take a few months."
"Mm-hmm."
His brain was still reeling from the ardor of their lovemaking, so it took him a minute, but what she'd said — or rather, hadn't said — suddenly struck him.
"Not for you," he said, raising his head to look at her.
She looked at him blankly. "What?"
"It hasn't been twelve years for you." When she didn't say a word, he stared at her. "Has it?"
She blushed. "I haven't been with anyone else since Mitch," she admitted. "Until now."
"But you — " He stopped, not wanting to offend her. When they'd met, she'd already been on birth control. He'd embarrassed her horribly by noticing her pills and talking about them in front of an eleven-year-old Julie. He'd just assumed that she'd been taking them for a reason.
"I was prepared for the possibility after a certain point," she conceded, "but I… I never met anyone I was serious enough about to consider taking that step." She shrugged, the movement a little awkward considering he was still laying on top of her. "I had a daughter to raise; I had to set a good example for her."
"But you were planning to take that step with me tonight," he said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Even though you didn't know I was going to propose."
"I think I've been planning to take that step since New Year's Eve," she said, stroking his cheek. "I just… wasn't quite ready until now."
"Well," he said, leaning down to kiss her again, "as it turns out, your timing was impeccable."
When their kiss ended, she sighed. "I hate to say this," she said with regret, "but I need to get up. Nature is calling."
His eyes widened. "Oh. Um, sure." He slowly withdrew from her, groaning as he did.
She slid off the bed and dashed to the bathroom. He grabbed a tissue from the box on his bedside table and cleaned himself up as best he could, resolving to do a better job once the bathroom was free.
When Natalie returned, she had to stifle a grin. Adrian had picked up all of their discarded items of clothing and left them folded neatly on top of his laundry hamper. Their shoes were lined up beside it. He was currently standing at the side of the bed, a spray bottle of cleaner in one hand and a washcloth in the other, wiping at a damp spot on the comforter. She wondered if he remembered that he was stark naked. Then again, so was she.
"It didn't get too messy, did it?" she asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
He glanced over, startled. "Not too bad. Usually Trudy and I would put down a towel first, but I forgot." He flushed as he realized what he'd just said. "Uh… sorry. I probably shouldn't talk about that."
"I don't mind, Adrian. Really."
He shook his head as he kept blotting the damp spot on his bedspread. "I don't want you to feel like I'm comparing you to Trudy all the time."
"I don't think you're doing that when you talk about your life with her."
He glanced at her, then back at the bed, his movements slower. "It really doesn't bother you?"
"Of course not." Something occurred to her, suddenly, and she frowned slightly. "Does it bother you when I talk about Mitch?"
"No," he said, turning to look her straight in the eye so that she could see he was sincere. "No, not at all."
"Good," she said, smiling in relief, and decided to change the subject. "Hey, I'm hungry. I think you said something earlier about cheesecake?"
"In the refrigerator." He put his cleaning supplies away on the closet shelf, and then took his bathrobe off its hanger. Considering, he reached in his closet for his spare bathrobe and tossed it to her.
She grinned, and slipped it on. It was enormous on her, but soft and warm. "Thanks."
"Do you mind if I take a shower?" he asked.
"Go right ahead. While you do that, I'll investigate the cheesecake situation."
As she walked down the hall, she saw her purse hanging with her coat and decided to dig out her cellphone to check her voicemail and text messages. She had very deliberately muted her phone at the start of the evening, but turned the sound back on now. There was always the chance that the captain could call with a case for them, but hopefully murder would take a holiday for the next few hours.
There had been no calls, but Julie had texted her three times. The first message, sent shortly after Natalie had left the house, said, simply, Happy Valentine's Day!
The second had come about an hour later. Hope you're having a great dinner!
The third had arrived about twenty minutes ago. Can't wait to hear about your evening.
She grinned at her daughter's impatient and not-so-subtle attempts to fish for information, and decided to tease her a little. She texted:
Dinner was great!
The reply came almost immediately, telling her that her Julie was probably glued to her phone, eager for an update. Good to hear! Anything else you want to tell me?
Natalie texted back, The chicken was fantastic. Send me that recipe!
No reply for several minutes. Then:
Has Mr. Monk asked you any interesting questions tonight?
Natalie chuckled and decided to put her daughter out of her misery. He did… and I said yes!
I KNEW IT! CONGRATS!
Thanks, honey. Talk to you in the morning, OK? Love you.
Love you too, future Mrs. Monk. Tell future stepdad that he owes me.
Natalie blinked at this. Their engagement was so brand-new that she hadn't even had time to think about everything it entailed — including her prospective name change.
"Mrs. Monk," she said aloud.
"Natalie Monk," she tried again.
Both names sounded strange and foreign to her ears. She was so accustomed to thinking of "Mrs. Monk" as Trudy… not herself.
When Adrian had finished his shower, he went into the kitchen and found Natalie lounging at the counter as she ate cheesecake and sipped leftover champagne. Her cell phone was on the counter in front of her and she appeared lost in thought.
"How's the cheesecake?" he asked, bringing her back to reality with a jolt.
"Delicious," she said, polishing off the last bite.
"Did you talk to Julie?" he asked, nodding toward her cell phone.
"We texted a few times." She pulled up the messages on her screen and handed the phone to him.
He grinned initially, but this was replaced by a faintly disoriented expression when he read Julie's last message.
"'Stepdad'," he said, blinking a few times. "That… didn't really occur to me until now." He'd known, theoretically, that he'd become Julie's stepfather if he married Natalie, but he hadn't thought about it all that much – it'd seemed more like an honorary term. But Julie's text had made him fully grasp that it signified a brand-new type of relationship between the two of them. He would have a stepdaughter – and that realization made him momentarily dizzy.
"I felt the same way about 'Mrs. Monk,'" she agreed.
He frowned at this, laying her cellphone back on the counter. "You don't want to change your name?"
She shrugged. "It's just that it's going to be really strange having a brand-new last name. It was the same way when I went from Davenport to Teeger."
He fiddled with the belt of his robe, and she could tell he was struggling with something in his mind. Finally, he said, very reluctantly, "You don't have to change your name if you don't want to. I'll understand if you want to stay Natalie Teeger."
Natalie shook her head. "There are some things that I'm very traditional about, and this is one of them. I took Mitch's name when we were married, and I fully intend to take yours, too. It's just going to take some getting used to."
He smiled in obvious relief. "For what it's worth, I'm glad." He glanced at her cell phone. "I don't know about this stepdad thing, though. I'm very inexperienced."
"I wouldn't say that," she said lightly, picking up the phone and dropping it in the pocket of her robe. "You've been doing a great job for the past five years or so." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "We're just making it official."
He grinned, pleased beyond words to hear her say so. "Well, if you can be Mrs. Monk, I guess I can be a stepdad."
Natalie drank the last of her champagne. Her new ring sparkled in the light as she set the glass down, and she held out her hand to admire it again. "I never expected to become Mrs. Monk," she mused.
"Why not?" he asked, casually leaning against the counter and reaching over to lace her fingers with his.
She gave him a wry glance. "You're seriously wondering why I never expected I would marry you in the first few years that I worked as your assistant?"
"No," he said, chuckling a little. "I mean… after we fell in love. Why were you so shocked when I proposed?"
She sighed. "I knew you loved me, and I knew you'd taken off your wedding ring… but I guess I assumed that you'd always be Trudy's husband, no matter what you felt about me."
He rubbed her fingers gently. "You know what's funny? Julie said almost the exact same thing to me when I told her I wanted to marry you."
"What'd you tell her?" Natalie said softly.
"I told her that a part of me will always belong to Trudy, but that a part of me belongs to you, too. And I said that I'll never love anyone the same way I loved Trudy, but there are different ways of loving that are just as good." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. "I don't think I quite realized that until I fell in love with you."
She leaned into him, pillowing her head against his chest. "When did you decide to propose?"
"When we were working the case." He wrapped his arms around her. "After I did my summation, you hugged me, remember?"
"I remember."
"I looked at you, in that moment, and I suddenly realized… you're my answer."
Natalie smiled, remembering when he'd once said the same thing about T.K. and Leland Stottlemeyer.
He began to gently rub circles on her back. "I have to admit, it left me reeling for a while. I was rather relieved when you said you were tired and wanted to go home early."
"That was the night I knew I was ready to make love with you," Natalie said without thinking. His gentle massage, along with the additional champagne she'd just consumed, had left her feeling delightfully adrift. The words escaped before she could stop herself.
Adrian's hands stilled, and he shifted so he could look into her face. "Then why on earth did you want to go home early?"
Natalie gulped. Well, if he truly wanted to marry her, then he needed to start getting used to all that entailed: for better or for worse, for cleaner or for messier. "Because after we got back here… I saw that my, um, period had started." She held her breath as she waited for his reaction.
He stared at her for a long moment, uncomprehending, and then realization dawned. "Oh. I see." He blew out a breath. "Well, that makes sense."
She smiled in relief. "After you told me about your plan for a fancy dinner last week, I decided that tonight would be a good night to… surprise you." She glanced at her ring again. "Obviously, I didn't realize the extent of your plans."
"As it turns out, we've both had a very special evening." He leaned down and kissed her deeply, and when they came up for air, he licked his lips and smiled. "You're right, that was delicious cheesecake."
She stared at him in disbelief. "Who are you, and what have you done with Adrian Monk?"
He shrugged. "I don't mind your germs. Or your other bodily fluids, for that matter. I'd think that's obvious, considering how we – "
"Okay, I get it," she said, cutting him off. She shook her head as she cleaned up her dessert dishes. "There are a lot of things that are going to take getting used to."
She'd barely closed the dishwasher when he swept her up in his arms. She squealed in surprise, grabbing for his neck. "What are you doing?"
"It's bedtime." He maneuvered them carefully through the doorway and down the hall.
"I'm not tired," she protested as he carried her into the bedroom.
He grinned devilishly. "I didn't say anything about sleeping."
She laughed as he lowered her onto the bed.
